Indio man found guilty of killing 18-year-old to prevent her from testifying
Update 6/18/24
Maury Duarte was convicted of first-degree murder. Jurors also found true special circumstance allegations of killing a witness to a crime and lying in wait.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty for Duarte, but the special circumstance allegations open her to a possible sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Sentencing was set for July 8.
Original Report 6/17/24
An Indio man who gunned down an 18-year-old crime witness was convicted today of first-degree murder and other charges, while jurors began deliberating the fate of his co-defendant.
An Indio jury deliberated two days before finding 28-year-old Alexis Daniel Rosas guilty of the 2019 slaying of Makayla Jean Massey, also known as Anita Garcia, of Victorville.
Along with murder, the panel convicted Rosas of attempted murder and found true special circumstance allegations of killing a witness to a crime and lying in wait, as well as convicted him of sentence enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jennifer Gerard did not immediately set a sentencing date, deferring until the separate jury weighing the fate of co-defendant Maury Duarte returned with a decision.
Her jury went behind closed doors Monday morning and did not reach a verdict. Deliberations will resume Tuesday at the Larson Justice Center.
As Rosas faces a potential death penalty, the jury in his case will decide whether to recommend either capital punishment or life in prison without parole, according to Thalia Hayden of the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.
Duarte, 32, is charged with first-degree murder and special circumstance allegations of killing a witness to a crime and lying in wait.
She's being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, and Rosas is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney's Office, Massey's boyfriend, identified only as "Abram," had been at odds with Rosas, a documented member of Indio's Jackson Terrace street gang, bearing the moniker "Trigger," for some time. The conflict had resulted in the defendant allegedly harassing and attacking the victim on multiple occasions.
On June 24, 2019, the feud led to Rosas allegedly going to the abandoned house in the 45-400 block of Oasis Street where Abram and Massey were residing and shooting him in the chest -- an act which the victim witnessed and detailed to Indio police immediately afterward.
Abram was hospitalized but ultimately recovered from the non-life-threatening wound.
After the shooting, Massey checked into a Motel 6 in Indio, possibly in an attempt to hide, but Rosas learned of her whereabouts and that she had made contact with police, prompting him to plan her murder, prosecutors said.
He enlisted Duarte's assistance, and they used her 2005 Toyota Camry to get around. In the predawn hours of June 25, 2019, Rosas went to the victim's motel room and persuaded her to come out, then physically restrained her inside the Toyota, which Duarte drove to a vacated ranch in the 82-600 block of Avenue 53 in Thermal, court papers alleged.
Once at the location, Rosas shoved the petrified victim out of the car and ordered to start walking toward a gate.
"The defendant kicked her in the stomach, causing her to fall to the ground," the brief said. "Rosas then shot Makayla five times. One shot was to her head. He knew he had killed her after the second shot, but he continued to shoot bullets into her body."
He left the victim where she was slain, and he and Duarte headed back toward Indio, dumping the .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol that he'd used to kill Massey on a roadside, according to the prosecution.
Massey's remains were discovered within a couple of days, leading to a sheriff's investigation that pointed to Rosas as the murderer.
The defendants were arrested without incident on Avenue 42 in Indio on June 30, 2019.
Court papers said both Rosas and Duarte conspired in retail fraud, but neither has documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
